Kicking in Kodiak

Well I'm in Kodiak, Alaska. What an unusual turn of events. I went to school today expecting another day of the grind, err I mean joyous education event, and I ended up on a plane to Kodiak. The basketball team was coming here to play in a game and the assistant coach had to cancel at the last minute. Of course I wasn't the first choice for a chaperoned but the other people couldn't go either... so as a default choice they picked me.....

Anyway we spent 8 hours flying around Alaska. We flew to Kotzebue and then to Fairbanks and then to Anchorage and then to Kodiak. We have zig zagged around the state. Its been a pretty wild time. Unfortunately we did not have time to look around any of those places, but at least I have been there now.

Kodiak is a warm change from Point Hope. It was -18 in Point Hope today and its 6 degrees here. More importantly the wind isn't blowing. The winds never stop blowing in Point Hope. Its like they built the town inside of a wind tunnel. The wind chill there was hovering around -50 most of this week. Here in Kodiak though, the wind chill is around 2 degrees or so, which by Point Hope standards is pretty much nonexistent.

I haven't seen much of the town. We got here after the sun had set. And yes the sun rises here.... Unlike Point Hope, Kodiak is not dark 24 hours a day this time of year. So we should be able to see something tomorrow. There is a giant mountain just outside of town. We can see the snow reflecting off of it. I am looking forward to seeing it in the sunshine.

On a funny note, a caribou ran across the runway at Point Hope today just before our plane landed. I had this fear that it might come darting back just as we were taking off. But fortunately it did not.